‘Tell us where she is’: Daughter’s plea as Chris Dawson’s family unleashes on ‘conniving monster’
Christopher Dawson faces the rest of his life in jail, whatever his carnal knowledge sentence is. Photo: AAP
Chris Dawson’s daughter has stared down her father in court and begged him to reveal the whereabouts of her mother’s body as a Sydney court heard he should spend the rest of his life in jail.
A sentencing hearing was held on Thursday, 10 weeks after Dawson was found guilty of murdering his wife Lynette in 1982 so he could pursue a relationship with one of his high school students, known as JC.
Dawson’s daughter Shanelle delivered a victim-impact statement to the court, pleading with her father to “finally admit the truth” and “tell us where she is”.
“I had to explain to my beautiful, innocent daughter why her grandfather killed her grandmother,” she said.
“She kept asking, ‘Why did he do that?’ The same question which tortured me for years and years.
“Why didn’t you just divorce her? Because of money? For God’s sake.”
Before reading her statement, Shanelle pause to fiercely stare at Dawson from across the courtroom, breaking into tears before speaking.
Wearing prison greens sitting in the court dock, 74-year-old Dawson listened to her statement.
“The night you removed our mother from our lives was the night you destroyed our sense of safety and belonging in this world,” she said.
Ms Dawson said she had some memories from the “nightmare night” her mother disappeared.
She said her life had been shattered, she found it difficult to trust men, and she had been diagnosed with PTSD after learning what her father was capable of.
“The torture of not knowing what happened, of what you did with her body – please tell us where she is. I hope you will finally admit the truth to yourself,” she said.
A statement by Lynette’s brother Greg Simms was read out describing how the loss of his sister had impacted generations.
“We considered you an equal in all respects. We trusted you. You repaid us by committing the ultimate betrayal,” Mr Simms wrote.
“It was a brazen act of a conniving monster hell bent on one thing, getting what you wanted at any cost,” Mr Simms said.
Prosecutor Crown prosecutor Craig Everson told the court Dawson should get a life sentence.
In a five-hour judgment delivered on August 30, the judge outlined why the Dawson was guilty of killing his wife and disposing of her body.
Mrs Dawson went missing from the couple’s Bayview home in Sydney’s northern beaches. Her body has never been found, despite extensive police searches.
Dawson has consistently denied any involvement in his wife’s disappearance, claiming she simply up and left her family home and children without a trace.
Justice Harrison rejected this version of events as “ludicrous”.
Two days after the judgment, a lawyer for the ex-Newtown Jets rugby league player told the court his client had already received death threats while at Silverwater prison due to the high profile nature of the case.
The case shot into the public eye largely as a result of The Teacher’s Pet podcast by journalist Hedley Thomas, which garnered millions of views across the globe.
On the day of the guilty verdict, police confirmed the investigation into Mrs Dawson’s murder was not over and urged anyone with information to come forward.
Dawson has already filed an appeal against his conviction.
– AAP